6 Key Differences — Shared Hosting vs. VPS Hosting (2018 Guide)

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By: Alexandra LesliePosted: January 11, 2018

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When smartphones took over in the early 2000s, data usage went through the roof for many families, mine included. Monthly cellphone bills climbed, too, so my family went with a shared data plan to keep costs low. This gave everyone enough data to get by, within a reasonable budget. The solution wasn’t perfect – some months, one person would rack up their personal data usage, leaving the rest of us strapped for streaming bandwidth – but it allowed each individual to pay about $30 less per month than if we each had an unlimited data plan.

When it comes to deciding on the type of hosting service you should use for a website, your mind is probably flooded with questions — namely, should I go with shared hosting or a virtual private server (VPS)? In many ways, shared hosting is similar to a family data plan: Responsibility is shared equally among users, and your monthly data needs don’t exceed the amount allotted in the plan. VPS hosting is more like an individual data plan. While you’ll pay more money to customize it to your needs, you’ll get more bandwidth and have full control over increasing, decreasing, or otherwise changing your data setup as you see fit.

While both VPS and shared hosting involve sharing one server’s resources, they have distinct differences.

The truth: Neither solution is better than the other. Selecting the right hosting service depends upon several factors, including resource needs, performance demands, security requirements, cost constraints, server administration preferences, and scalability expectations. What’s right for someone else may not be right for you.

Next, we’ll cover the key points to consider when choosing between shared and VPS hosting.

1. Server Resources

As the names imply, shared hosting customers share server resources, whereas dedicated hosting users get a server dedicated to their sites’ needs. A VPS lies in the gray area in the middle — a bunch of slices of the same server acting as their own dedicated hardware entities. That being said, there are pros and cons to both sides of the shared/VPS resource allocation spectrum.

Shared Hosting

When you share server resources with others, you’ll face some limitations. While no single account will impact another’s experience, per say, there will be maximum available CPUs, memory/RAM, and disk space. Your website will not be able to use resources beyond the maximum allowed. This may not be a big deal if your website doesn’t require a ton of space or processing power.

2. Performance

As you might guess, more resources means more performance. Shared hosting is only as performant as the technologies your host has implemented for speed (e.g., SSDs, caching software, a CDN, etc.). Typically, you have more control over the performance factor with a VPS, but let’s go a little more in-depth.

Shared Hosting

As with any shared plan, other websites could possibly affect your website’s performance – it’s the risk you run by opting for the more economical shared hosting plan. However, if your performance demands are limited and you value ease of maintenance, shared hosting will likely yield a higher return on investment.

VPS Hosting

It’s no surprise that VPS hosting offers better overall performance based on the bandwidth it offers users. You’ll have more flexibility to configure your applications on the server, but you’ll need to make sure you have a dedicated system administrator to keep the server running smoothly. If you have high traffic demands or multiple sites to manage, VPS will be the better option.

3. Security

While sharing server resources presents huge benefits from a cost point of view, it can wreak havoc on the security end of things. It really depends on how much the hosting provider has invested (both operational/team and purely financial resources) in ensuring dedicated protection for its shared hosting customers.

Shared Hosting

While shared hosting is considered very safe, be aware that security breaches can occur simply because a common server cannot guarantee 100% security. The main reason for this is what we call the Noisy Neighbor problem — or the fact that when one shared hosting customer makes a mistake or experiences a technical difficulty, it’ll likely impact other sites because you are all sharing space on the same machine.

Customer support will likely also be limited compared with VPS hosting. However, if your site won’t require sensitive personal information from users, you shouldn’t have an issue with shared hosting.

VPS Hosting

You can ensure your site’s security with more robust safety features that are only available through VPS hosting. If your budget allows, you can implement better customer support services that will assist patrons when they need it. If your business needs to protect personal data, it’s worth considering the upgrade to a VPS.

4. Pricing

Pricing for web hosting is a funny thing. You can easily find yourself paying an arm and a leg (upward of $18 per month) on shared hosting and absolutely hate the piss-poor service, or you could spin up a VPS instance for as little as five bucks and never look back. Those are extreme scenarios, of course, but hopefully, you catch my drift.

While shared hosting is the best for affordability and ease of use, VPS hosting reigns supreme for scalability.

Aim for a balance — high-quality features (as many as you require) meets low-as-possible price.

Shared Hosting

With shared hosting, you defray the expenses associated with running and maintaining a server because you’re sharing server space with thousands of other websites. From a pure price point, shared hosting is the most economical choice and is a great option for those looking to host a site with standard functionality.

VPS Hosting

As with any paid service, a more expensive plan offers more premium features, and the same rings true for VPS hosting. If you want to improve your website’s performance, or if you need to increase your business’s online services, VPS hosting will give you better customization and performance options than shared hosting.

Shared Hosting

If you choose to host your website on a shared server, there is little to no technical maintenance of the server required on your end. That means you can enjoy basic server administration for your website at no additional cost to your budget or your precious time. For many, this is a huge plus as no dedicated system administrator is needed.

VPS Hosting

VPS-hosted websites are often more complex in terms of resource management and therefore will usually require a specific system administrator to focus on maintaining the server. The tradeoff is that you’ll be able to customize your site and configure whatever applications and software you want while increasing performance and security.

6. Scalability

The scalability factor is the tipping point for the shared-vs-virtual server debacle. If your site sees, or is expected to see, roughly 30,000 monthly visitors, a shared host can accommodate you and your site’s hosting needs. Much more than that and you might start receiving internal errors from your host. You’ll then need to consider a VPS or dedicated plan, and a VPS can handle any amount of traffic.

Shared Hosting

While shared hosting is a great option for the short-term, you might face scalability issues in the long run depending on how your website grows. If you find you’re maxing out your storage capabilities, or if user demand is exceeding server space, you may need to consider scaling up to eke out better performance.

VPS Hosting

The customizable features of VPS hosting allow you to scale more quickly and easily. If you predict you’ll eventually need to scale up on the fly to meet demand, the investment in VPS hosting now may pay off in the future.

Best Hosts for Shared or Virtual Private Servers

As is the case with any cellular data plan, you want to know where you can get the best coverage for the most reasonable price. How can you possibly evaluate which providers truly offer the best deal amid the marketing jumble?

Here’s our gift to you: the top recommendations for both shared and VPS hosting plans. We scoured the web and evaluated countless plans, ultimately selecting the cream of the crop and sharing them here. You’re welcome.

Top 3 Shared Hosting Plans

We cover a lot of variables when judging shared hosting providers, especially since we know we’re often guiding first-time website owners. The hosts that get our seal of approval make plenty of server resources — bandwidth, storage, memory, et cetera — available for a competitive price, and they often throw in free perks such as a complimentary domain name registration. Ease of use is an important consideration, too, so bonus points go to those with drag-and-drop website builders or easy installation options for popular tools like WordPress.

Below you’ll find the most affordable, best value shared hosts on the market today.

SHAREDRATING

Bluehost: Our Expert's Review

Setup time: 4 minutes

Ryan Frankel (HostingAdvice.com):
If you’re looking for an affordable host, Bluehost is a solid, reputable choice, but their low cost coupled with their supremacy in the shared hosting arena is what makes this provider such a value deal. The Bluehost name is listed toward the top of many of... Go to full review »

SHAREDRATING

iPage: Our Expert's Review

Setup time: 5 minutes

PJ Fancher (HostingAdvice.com):
Whether you're a first-time website owner or a web veteran, iPage’s excellent hosting services and fantastic list of extras make them one of the best values in web hosting.Unlimited disk space, bandwidth, and emails are just a part of what makes iPage’s... Go to full review »

SHAREDRATING

InMotion: Our Expert's Review

Setup time: 5 minutes

PJ Fancher (HostingAdvice.com):
InMotion offers an excellent business-class shared hosting plan. While carrying a higher price tag than other cheap hosts, it has a very nice list of features to help justify the extra cost. For the IT crowd in the audience, you’ll appreciate SSH access, as... Go to full review »

Top 3 Virtual Server Plans

VPS plans are judged based on hardware quality, support level, price, and customization options. We find the top providers offer flexible packages that can be easily configured (much like the servers themselves) to best meet dynamic needs.

An extra gold star goes to those that throw in added benefits such as SSD storage, pre-installed WordPress, a CDN, and 24/7 security monitoring. Check out the top VPS plans below.

VPSRATING

Liquid Web: Our Expert's Review

Setup time: 7 minutes

Alexandra Leslie (HostingAdvice.com):
It's no secret by now that Liquid Web is known for best-in-class technology and reliability that exceeds expectations (from uptime to technical support). Their VPSs embody that reputation to its fullest — including a new Managed WordPress product (Hop one... Go to full review »

VPSRATING

Bluehost: Our Expert's Review

Setup time: 5 minutes

Ryan Frankel (HostingAdvice.com):
When comparing the performance versus price of VPS plans, Bluehost brings supreme value to the table. In addition to competitive pricing, they offer premium support and excellent uptime compared to other VPS options in the industry. If you’ve outgrown shared... Go to full review »

Consider Your End Goals When Deciding Between a VPS or Shared Host

After several years of dealing with limited data availability on my family plan, I decided to leave the data battles behind and upgrade to a plan that offered me unlimited data usage. While I now pay a premium for the service, I enjoy increased media streaming, GPS app usage, higher quality image resolution, and other perks. In the end, the cost-benefit analysis led me toward the more expensive option; however, the rest of the family remains on the data plan, and it continues to work for them based on how much they’re willing to spend for these services.

Having your own dedicated server — even a virtual one — brings new scaling potential, but make the decision wisely!

The decision to host your website on a shared versus a virtual private server is an important one. For a majority of sites, a shared hosting plan will more than suffice. But if you’re seriously considering a higher-end hosting plan, here are some signs it’s time to migrate to a VPS.

I’ll leave you with the following takeaway tips if you’re considering the move to a VPS:

Identify the reasons you’ve outgrown shared hosting, or why a VPS may be appropriate.

Determine which features are most important to you. Pro/Con lists are very useful!

Compare prices and providers as part of your decision-making process.

Conduct your own cost-benefit analysis.

Project your long-term business growth. Are we looking at a major growth spurt?

With this information in mind, you’ll have your website on its way in no time at all.

Questions or Comments? Ask Alexandra!

Ask a question and Alexandra will respond to you. We strive to provide the best advice on the net and we are here to help you in any way we can.

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About the Author

Alexandra Leslie

Alexandra Leslie serves as Tech Vertical Manager of Digital Brands Inc, spearheading the charge to deliver technical expertise and thought leadership to our rapidly growing audience of developers, engineers, and website owners here at HostingAdvice. You'll find her engaging with leaders in web hosting and tangentially related industries, enjoying honest discussions of their cutting-edge technologies. She loves getting her hands dirty with comprehensive reviews of popular hosting platforms and services, and she's a die-hard WordPress fan. Alexandra leads the HostingAdvice team with a passion for translating technical jargon into digestible action items anyone can use to build, monetize, and scale a web presence.

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